St. Cloud Mayor Wants To Sell Naming Rights To Convention Center, MAC

ST. CLOUD - St. Cloud is selling the naming rights to two major city facilities. During his 11th annual "State Of The City" address today (Tuesday), Mayor Dave Kleis announced the city is putting out a request for proposals for both the River's Edge Convention Center and the MAC.

Why don't we partner together, and do something that a lot of communities are doing already and that is public facility name opportunities. This (River's Edge Convention Center) and the MAC are not subsidized by property taxes, they're user fees. They're great facilities. We've extended them. We've highlighted them in the community. We've had some inquiries from people who want to put their name on them. So we're going to put out an rfp this afternoon.

Kleis says the city will also put out a request for proposals in the next several weeks for anyone interested in developing the Liberty Square - or Lady Slipper - parking lot in downtown St. Cloud. Kleis says the spot is shovel ready for any developer who wants to come in with a plan to build on the site.

When the Beaver Island Trail extension in downtown St. Cloud is complete you'll be able to get a little history lesson while you stroll. Kleis says the project includes several information panels.

It's our 160th anniversary, so along the trail there's some retaining wall. We're going to put some panels up in there that talk about our history.

Kleis says he also wants a spot along the trail for you to stop and take a selfie.

A call out to artists to create something that we can take a picture in front of. It would say "St. Cloud and Mississippi River".

The $6.2 million Beaver Island Trail extension began about a year ago and will be finished later this year.

Kleis also wants to tackle poverty in the city. He says he's planning to form a task force to study the problem.

And the challenge I have, because I hear from employers all the time, that 'I can't find employees'. I hear from people in the community that 'I can't find a job'. Somehow we've got a disconnect, and in some segments of the community we have an even larger disconnect.

Kleis says he's also forming another task force to look at transportation in the city. He says 60 percent of the city's half-cent sales tax dollars are dedicated to transportation.